Replies

I've read that assertion several times, that the Christian church existed without the Bible. I wonder when that would be? The Bible available to them was the OT or Hebrew Scriptures. Were they not instructive to Christians?

That comes from the Catholic religion which calls itself the Church...

Certainly the Hebrew scriptures were available as well as the writings of the NT authors...

The early church fathers accepted that scripture as completely authoritative not to mention the likes of the Apostle Peter...

How many time did Jesus say, Is it not written, or something similar...

They had exactly what God wanted them to have...

"The early church fathers accepted that scripture as completely authoritative not to mention the likes of the Apostle Peter..."

Not true. Otherwise Why does it not read Faith comes by reading the word and reading the word. If the Bible speaks alone this would be faith from reading only.

Romans 10:17

King James Version (KJV)

17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Which mean it is by authority of the apostles and apostolic succession by the Early Church. If they argue about scripture it is among their authority as bishops and priests without saying it. They already knew what they all believed in authority of scripture.

It was read from scrolls so no one could make a mistake like your making. Someone with authority. This was the early belief of the early Fathers.

Clement of Alexandria [150-215 AD] The Stromata (Book VI) "If; then, we assert that Christ Himself is Wisdom, and that it was His working which showed itself in the prophets, by which the gnostic tradition may be learned, as He Himself taught the apostles during His presence; then it follows that the grinds, which is the knowledge and apprehension of things present, future, and past, which is sure and reliable, as being imparted and revealed by the Son of God, is wisdom."Read More

"The liars, then, in reality are not those who for the sake of the scheme of salvation conform, nor those who err in minute points, but those who are wrong in essentials, and reject the Lord and as far as in them lies deprive the Lord of the true teaching;

who do not quote or deliver the Scriptures in a manner worthy of God and of the Lord; for the deposit rendered to God, according to the teaching of the Lord by His apostles, is the understanding and the practice of the godly tradition.

"And what ye hear in the ear " -- that is, in a hidden manner, and in a mystery (for such things are figuratively said to be spoken in the ear) -- "proclaim," He says, "on the housetops," understanding them sublimely, and delivering them in a lofty strain, and according to the Canon of the truth Explaining the Scriptures;

for neither prophecy nor the Saviour Himself announced the divine mysteries simply so as to be easily apprehended by all and sundry, but express them in parables."